Guanajuato!!

We only have less than two weeks left! Sad, because there is still SO MUCH to see!! So we decided to take another side trip a couple of days ago. This past weekend took us to another city in Mexico, about 2 hours away from Queretaro. This city was called Guanajuato...and guess what! It might possibly be my new favorite place! Yes, I say this with every city I visit in Mexico, but they are all just so downright charming! And I truely love every single town! This place had a lot of mines back in the day, so silver is pretty popular here. The city also has MANY tunnels that take roads underground. Some guy described the town as swiss cheese because of all the underground roads and tunnel openings that resemble swiss cheese holes. I didn't know this before I went, but this town is actually considered a World Heritage Site.


"Our best mummy poses"

Guanajuato is known for its mummies. Real mummies. Not mummies wrapped in shreds of cloth, but naturally preserved. The cause is unsure, but most believe it to be because of the air and the metal surrounding the bodies. There is a museum that we went to called "Guanajuato Mummy Museum" and there were probably 40 mummies on display! The clothes on some of them were still intact!! There were even babies that had been mummified--so sad to see! Our tour was in Spanish, so I'm sure I missed a lot...but at least they had description plates in English.

We also went to a torture museum because Guanajuato was known for torturing prisoners also. We were able to get the tour in English so that made it much more interesting (even though I'm sure you could use your imagination here). It seems that the person behind all the "SAW" movies must have seen this museum!!!! Too many similarities (creepy!). It definitely offered some fun photo ops! haha!

Just walking around the city and stopping in the shops was really fun and interesting. Shannon even bought a rug for only 300 pesos ($25US)!!! There was a theatre in the middle of the city that reminded me so much of Hollywood Blvd because it looked like a movie could be set there...plus there were a lot of palm trees around it. =)

TMBA--This is LIFE!

I want to take this post to tell everyone interested (or even somewhat interested) in participating in the TMBA to DO IT!!! I am so glad that I did. Not only have I experienced some amazing cities, new cultures, crazy adventures, and met great people, but I will have my MBA in less than one month! One year jam-packed with adventure while studying is completely worth it and has gone by so incredibly fast!

I also want to commend WKU for taking this program into its hands and giving me and all other future MBA students this AMAZING opportunity! It has been the experience of a lifetime! GO TOPS!

Post a comment if you are interested in this program and you have any questions at all! =)

Side Trip to Bernal!!!

Ok, so actually Bernal is my new favorite place! Its funny how I think I've seen the most beautiful place, only to discover one that I love even more!!! Bernal is a town that holds a grand natural beauty--Pena de Bernal, or Bernal Peak! This is actually a HUGE rock that juts straight out of the ground in the middle of nowhere. And when I say HUGE, I mean the height is 1150 ft (and 8230 ft above sea level)! If you have never been to Queretaro, you may not know that it is very mountainous. And right now we are in the rainy season so all the mountains are a beautiful tropical green color (think of the tree-filled cliffs on "LOST" and that is what Queretaro looks like in the country). But then, you have this huge rock, called a monolith, with virtually NO trees...so it kinda stands out! Its said to be made from volcanic rock many, many years ago. How freakin' awesome to be able to climb this thing! AND I was definitely excited!

Hiking/rock climbing Bernal was not as easy as it looks. In fact, it was a lot more dangerous than I felt it to be at the time. But, I have quite the adventurous spirit--straight from my dad. And when you're up there, you feel like you are on top of the world and that you accomplished something fabulous!

P.S. David saw a scorpion while we were climbing!!!!! Glad I didn't accidently grab that rock!

Updates from Mexico!! Part II

More on the side trips...

So I thought San Miguel was the most beautiful city...until we went to Tequisquiapan. Then, I fell in love with that city! The girls and Hector took a side trip to Tequisquiapan to go ride horses in the country. After we took an hour-long bus ride (for only $3.00!), and a taxi, the horses were not where they are "normally" stationed!!! SO, I said, "Well, let's just go find the horses' house!" So, we took a little walking journey asking all the locals if they knew where these certain horses lived (well, actually where their owners live...haha!). Long story short, and many sights later, we found the horses and were able to ride them. One hour=$3.00! It seems like everything is $3.00 around here! We rode out in the country along a cobblestone road and saw some very interesting Mexican "rural-ness." Definitely an experience I won't forget! The town of Tequisquiapan is very pretty in a very natural way...they have these HUGE trees that have the biggest trunks I have ever seen! The stores here were very nice too...and suprisingly different from Queretaro or San Miguel.

(***Look how pretty the sky is in the picture! If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with perfect clouds in pictures...and these were stunning perfection!***)

Stay tuned for BERNAL!!

Updates from Mexico!!! Part I

Hola from Mexico!

I had all but given up on my blogging down here in Mexico because of the intense construction going on in the historic district (which is where I live). The city has made a movement to put every single telephone, internet, and electric cable underground. Up until now they have been on poles above (and connected to buildings). But because of this construction, our internet at our house has become, well, non-existant most times, and quite flakey the rest of the time. Only stable enough for me to make short Facebook posts...and it took NUMEROUS tries to even upload pictures!! And school's computer labs are closed because its summer!! BUT last week, my family came to visit and my dad, the wonderful tech-y brain that he is, fixed our internet!! So now, I'm back to blogging!! =)

And I greatly apologize for letting my readers down. But I will do a quick re-cap of what has been going on in the QRO.

The first month (from around June 15 til July 15) was spent getting acquainted with this beautiful city. As I mentioned earlier, we live in the historic district in an amazing house that has three different levels of open terraces that are considered our roof. Our house is an old, hacienda-style home, meaning that we have an open-area courtyard right in the middle of our house! We even have a little pet bird that comes inside our house and sleeps on a pipe near our front door. Since we are right in the middle of the historic distric, we are literally walking distance from every plaza area in this city! Its SO nice to not have to ride the bus everywhere!

School is also great! The teachers are very laid-back, as is common with this culture. They are also very helpful and are willing to go out of their way if we needed help with the city (or school) at all. Our classes are: International Management of Sales, International Economics, International Management, and Strategic Management. We also have a Spanish course that is once a week. Learning the language has been much easier than I ever would have thought. With only Spanish-speaking people surrounding me, I've been pretty much forced (in a good way) to learn. This is how I buy things, how I go to the market, how I tell the taxi driver where to take us, etc., etc., etc.

We have also made several small side trips to the surrounding cities within a 2-hour driving range from Queretaro. The first trip we made was to San Miguel de Allende. This city has a lot of English-speaking people who come here from the States to retire. San Miguel is also known for its international film festival that happens at the end of July. Over 400 films can be screened during this week-long festival. We stayed at a hotel/residence called Casa de la Sol (a friend of Hector's owns it) and toured the city. San Miguel is also famous for its natural hot springs, or oasis. We also visited one of these. I'm somewhat of a germ-freak, so naturally I worried about if the water was sanitary because, well, its "natural," and there were tons of people.

(Look for "Updates from Mexico!! Part II)

We're Here!!

I wanted to update to say we are here, finally!!! But we don't have wireless internet...so I have to keep this brief. The city is absolutely gorgeous. I feel like I am in Italy, not in Mexico. There are TONS of small little outdoor restaurants that have gardens and all kinds of nice little shops! Our house is really awesome. We have an outdoor courtyard right in the middle of our house. I will post pictures and write more on all this later...

Seeing the Light at the End of the Tunnel

As most of you know this semester has been the hardest yet for all of us! But I'm feeling that we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Last week was filled with three research papers and an essay take-home final due (YES, all in one week!!). In the midst of all these projects being written, there were other activities that occurred. I seriously didn't know how much more I could handle. So last week that "light" felt like the light was on the train that had just hit me! But as I turned that last paper in on Friday, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I feel like this whole semester I have been very spread thin and my classes have pulled me in every direction. Basically, I feel like I have put my life on hold. Now all that's left of this semester is Finals Week (one final on Monday and one on Wednesday). Pray for all of us as we had all reached our ropes' end last week and we're trying to recover to make it through this last week!

TMBA 2009-2010 Enrollment!!!

Its that time of year again. AH, April. The time for deadlines--not just for taxes, but also for the 2009-2010 TMBA program!! April 15 is the soft deadline for the program to get things turned in such as resume, letter of intent, transcripts, etc. If you are at all interested, please go talk to me or someone in the MBA office at WKU! Dr. Hatfield and I will be on WBKO AM Live tomorrow morning promoting the program! It won't hurt you to wake up a little bit earlier in the morning to listen to what WKU's MBA programs have to offer you to further your education to enhance your future careers!!!

In addition, I would like to re-post a comment made on my blog by one of my awesome friends, who happens to be one of the Canadian students in the TMBA program this year:

"Hey everyone, if you’re thinking about signing up, please do! It’s an awesome experience, especially if you haven’t travelled that much in your life. It’s the perfect time to do it, and for those of you who have a girlfriend/boyfriend and are scared of the distance … almost all of us have left someone back home and it only makes your relationship stronger and more meaningful, honestly! I look forward in meeting the new TMBA group in September 2009; I will be in Moncton New Brunswick so you will see me around :)" --Shannon, TMBA 2008-2009

Thanks Shannon for your comment! And everyone else, feel free to comment...it encourages me to post more often. ;)

Remember, WBKO AM Live tomorrow, April 14!!

Updates from WKU

I'd like to take this time to update all my blog readers on what has been going on this semester. And I'd like to apologize for not updating as frequently as I did in Canada...its quite different to write about things happening in my home country versus the new experiences that happened daily in Canada! haha! Here's the rundown:

One of our first activities as a group here in the States was venturing to Mariah's--my favorite restaurant in Bowling Green. It was nice for us all to get together before classes started without the added stress of coursework looming on our shoulders. Every restaurant that they go to here, they make the same comment about how LARGE American portions are!

They also experienced their VERY FIRST basketball game EVER!! Its awesome to witness some of these "first" experiences. Here's Shannon and me at halftime:

One unusually warm day in February, one of the WKU full-time MBA students, Tom, took us caving in a cave he has in his backyard. Unfortunately for us, it had rained the day before and once we had climbed through the cave for a while the water got up to our chests! Needless to say, we couldn't go further...unless we wanted to swim in super cold cave water with fish and cave crickets! =/ Check out our super cool headlamps...yeah, we're pro splunkers!

St. Patty's Day, some 0f my Kappa Delta friends were getting together at Double Dogs. So I brought the girls there with me. And guess what--they don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Canada...and they didn't have ANY green clothing! We refrained from pinching them--only cause they were new to the holiday.

March also brought three TMBA birthdays: Shannon, David, and Pepe. We had a birthday celebration POUTINE-STYLE! If you can remember, poutine is the amazing food they have in Canada (fries, gravy, and cheese curds). Julie had gotten the special poutine gravy sauce brought to her by some of her visiting friends. Can I just say, OH how I have missed poutine!! Here's David cutting his cake, sporting the WKU Sunbelt Champs shirt that us girls got him! GO TOPS!

One week, the Canadian girls were quite stressed...so I decided to brighten their moods and take them shopping in Nashville. Retail therapy always works! We had an awesome time shopping, exploring downtown Nashville, eating dessert at the Melting Pot, and pretending to be cowgirls! Gen, don't kill me for putting this up--I still think you should be in a country music video with that look!

We're trying to fit in as many things as we can with school going on. We're gonna keep on exploring, and hopefully I can keep witnessing their "first" experiences!

A New Semester

After a VERY long break (1 month and 1 week!!!) and several personal travels in-between, we are back in school for our second semester of the TMBA! This semester brings us to my home court: WKU!!! And although I absolutely LOVED being in Canada, I must admit that I am happy to be in familiar settings with familiar people. School started last Monday, which ended up being a very busy week.



But the week before was even crazier with all the Canadian students and Mexican students arriving to the States. Each one seemed to have an adventurous story of their travels to the States, my favorite one being where one of the Canadian girls got stuck in the Toronto airport because the lady at UdeM told her that she needed the COPY of her Student Visa to go through customs (not the original). This caused her to be in a "holding room" for what seemed like hours with U.S. customs staring at her like she was a criminal. After a while, they finally let her go through, but by that time she had already missed her flight. In the meantime, I was already in Nashville ready to pick her up from the airport when I got a call from her (she was unable to use her phone in the "holding" room)! Since there are only two flights that go to Nashville from Toronto each day, she had to wait at the airport for 10 hours!!!

All the students seem to really love Bowling Green (and the States in general...they think Nashville looks like Vegas...NASHVegas!). They are living in really nice, off-campus apartments, but they are so close to campus that they are able to walk to class--a huge plus since (just like me in Canada) they have no cars here. But they have met a friend here that owns a limo...so that has been their preferred method of travel! The Mexicans even went to WalMart in the limo...I wish I had a picture to post from that!

This semester already seems a bit harder than the Canadian semester. We have research papers in almost all of our classes. The other students have already expressed concern about this because, as you know, English is not their first language. Time will tell what this semester has in store for us!